

WASHINGTON WARREN. 





















































































Winthrop’s Statue in Scollay Square 



Governor Winthrop’s Return to Boston. 


♦ 


AN INTERVIEW 

WITH 

A GREAT CHARACTER. 

. 3 ^oent 

READ AT A SOCIAL MEETING OF FIRST CHURCH, AND 
ALSO AT THE THURSDAY EVENING CLUB, 

MARCH 257 APRIL 20, 1882. 

l/ 

By G. WASHINGTON WARREN. 


'* Interviews are a modem species of literature, in which the author attempts to give a fancy 
sketch of the known or supposed opinions of the party interviewed." 


A. 


BOSTON: 

W I LLI A M S A N D COMP A N Y, 


©15 ©ornrr Bookstore. 

1883. 





T5'3\5 r ] 
12.5 


Three hundred copies printed. 


Copyright, 1883, 

By G. Washington Warren. 


University Press: 

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 


TO 

ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP, 

THE DISTINGUISHED DESCENDANT OK 

GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP, 


A GENTLEMAN 

AND A SCHOLAR, A STATESMAN AND AN ORATOR, 

IN WHOM 

THE VIRTUES OF HIS ILLUSTRIOUS ANCESTOR 

ARE HAPPILY BLENDED, 

• 

GTljts Utttle Booh, 


AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF HIGH ESTEEM, 
IS INSCRIBED 


By the Author 











CONTENTS. 


©obetnor EHtntfjrop’s Bctutn to Boston. 

PAGE 

His Statue in Scollay Square.11 

The Covenant of First Church.12 

His Observations on his Return.13 

The “Stocks” of his Time.14 

The Changes since, and those which are to come.15 

Rev. John Wilson’s Vision.15 

The Thursday Lecture and Thursday Club.16 

President William B. Rogers and his Death.16 

The new President of the Club. .17 

Josiah Quincy’s Estimate of Winthrop.17 

Winthrop’s Life and Services.17 




















Contents . 


6 


In Enterbuto fcoitfj a ©reat Character. 

PAGE 

Silence and Darkness in Scollay Square.20 

Winthrop appears to the Writer.20 

He disclaims being Venerable.21 

Age not reckoned in Spirit-land.21 

He refers to First Church and its History.22 

And predicts its still Greater Success.23 

The Winthrop Cup. 2 3 

New Things and Old. 2 4 

His Reflections on Wealth.25 

The Example of John Harvard.25 

The Spiritual the Substantial.26 

The Proper Site of his Statue. 2 7 

Winthrop’s Benediction and Departure.28 





































ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Winthrop’s Statue in Scollay Square .... Frontispiece 

The “Stocks” of the Olden Time.14 

The First Church, on Marlborough Street.15 

Portrait of Rev. John Wilson.22 

The Winthrop Cup.23 


✓ 













GOVERNOR WINTHROP’S RETURN 


TO BOSTON. 






(Eobemor ffiStntjjrop’s Brturn to Boston. 


N the seventeenth day of September, a.d. 1880, the two 



hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the 
town of Boston, the event was commemorated, among other 
ways, by the inauguration of the statue of John Winthrop, in 
Scollay Square. He is represented by the renowned sculptor in 
the garb of a gentleman of his day, holding in his hand the 
royal charter of the Massachusetts Colony, which he brought 
over with him. 

His serene countenance falls like a benediction upon this city 
of ours, which shows a wonderful and prosperous growth. He 
may be said to be the founder of the First Church of Boston, 
of the City itself, and of this Christian Commonwealth, — a 
threefold distinction. To have been the founder of a single 
one of these would have insured his immortal fame. 















Governor Winthrop's Return . 


12 


He was also the author of the covenant of the First Church, 
which was gathered in Charlestown, Aug. 27, 1630, and which 
soon after removed to the Boston side of Charles River. The 
covenant is in these words: — 

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in obedience to 
His holy and divine ordinance, — 

“ We, whose names are hereunder written, being by His most 
wise and good providence brought together into this part of 
America, in the Bay of Massachusetts, and desirous to unite 
ourselves into one congregation or church, under the Lord Jesus 
Christ, our Head, in such sort as becometh all those whom He 
hath redeemed and sanctified to Himself, do hereby solemnly 
and religiously (as in His most holy presence) promise and bind 
ourselves to walk in all our ways according to the rule of the 
Gospel and in all sincere conformity to His holy ordinances, and 
in mutual love and respect, each to other, so near as God shall 
give us grace.” 

Probably there are very few, if any, original documents in 
America of so ancient a date which have been preserved, and 
which are still in force, as this identical covenant, which has been 
signed and kept by hundreds in each generation for nearly three 


















































































Governor Winthrop's Return . 


13 


centuries. Far superior to the Andover creed, or to any other 
creed of seminary, council, or church, it has ever been a bond of 
union, and not a bone of contention. Aptly phrased and includ¬ 
ing all the essential conditions of a vital church organization, it 
will stand for centuries to come, and will outlast all creeds of 
human invention, ever promoting beneficence and charity. 

This poem represents the spirit of Governor Winthrop return¬ 
ing to the city and the capital of the Christian Commonwealth 
he had founded, and taking possession of the bodily form which 
the artist has reproduced of him, clothed in his own antique 
costume. He surveys the extended limits of Boston, including 
Charlestown, with Bunker Hill Monument, and four other town¬ 
ships with hundreds of church steeples pointing to the sky. He 
misses from the old site on Cornhill the single house of worship 
where Wilson and Cotton preached, and where he was wont to 
expound ; but soon he descries from afar, in his mind’s eye, 
standing where, in his time, the waves of the sea were surging, 
the beautiful church edifice and the elegant chapel where five hun¬ 
dred Sunday-scholars are weekly taught. He dwells with supreme 
satisfaction upon the good deeds done by the church he estab¬ 
lished, and predicts for it a still more prosperous future and a 














Governor Winthrop's Return. 


4 


greater spiritual growth. He recognizes only two things which 
existed in his day, and have remained unchanged, — the church 
covenant he wrote, as it were, by inspiration, or at least by a 
wise forecast of future needs, and the Communion cup'he gave, 
which has singularly escaped the hazards of fire and the chances 
of time, and which has been, ever since, constantly used in the 
holy commemorative service. 

Upon these almost universal changes he makes some appro¬ 
priate reflections. To “sit in the stocks” was a punishment 
commonly imposed in his time for various offences. Richard 
Frothingham, in his “ History of Charlestown,” gives a view of 
the stocks that were set in the market-place with this mode of 
punishment applied. The view is here reproduced. “ It was 





















































































Governor Win thr op's Return. 


15 


much used,” says Frothingham, “and several times repaired. A 
sentence by the selectmen for ‘drinking to excess,’shows that 
one hour’s sitting in the stocks could be compromised by paying 
3s. 4 d. money.” Winthrop, of course, would be struck with the 
different use of the word now so frequently spoken. From the 
fact that all investments of his day are swept out of existence, he 
predicts that the properties now held as most secure and reliable 
will in as long a time disappear. He illustrates the superiority 
of man, in his own best estate, to all worldly possessions. 

His allusion to the vision of Rev. John Wilson, the first 
minister of the church, recalls the following passage in his diary 
as quoted by Hon. Robert C. Winthrop in his “ Life and Letters 
of John Winthrop,” vol. 2, page 108. 

“ The pastor of Boston, Mr. Wilson, a very sincere, holy man, 
. . . told the governour that, before he was resolved to come 
into this country, he dreamed he was here, and that he saw a 
church arise out of the earth, which grew up and became a mar¬ 
vellous goodly church.” 

The present church edifice well answers this description ; 
built with exquisite taste after a most appropriate design, and 









Governor Winthrop's Return. 


16 


bearing the palm of all the costly churches in the new part of 
Boston for fitness, beauty, and permanency. 

The Thursday Lecture, which was the special clerical and 
social occasion of his time, he finds abolished ; and he observes 
that the Thursday Evening Club is now a characteristic feature 
of Boston. This was formed for social, scientific, and literary 
objects. Among its founders and early members were Edward 
Everett, a member of First Church, and Hon. Robert C. Win¬ 
throp, the distinguished descendant and representative of the 
Winthrop family. The one referred to in this interview as the 
then leader of the Club was its late President, William B. Rogers. 
He was a man of superior scientific attainments, with a power of 
apt expression and a felicity and fluency of utterance indeed 
remarkable. By his efforts and influence the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology was established, — alasting monument 
of his zeal for technical science, the most needed factor in popu¬ 
lar education. In making an address to the Institute at its Com¬ 
mencement exercises, May 30, 1882, he was struck with death; 
he left the very place of his heart’s and life’s devotion for the 
spirit land of Winthrop. His predecessors in the office of Presi¬ 
dent of the Club were John C. Warren, the nephew of General 
Joseph Warren, Edward Everett, J. Mason Warren, and Bishop 


































































































































Governor Winthrop's Return. 


7 


Manton Eastburn. The historic mantle of the office has now 
been cast on Colonel Theodore Lyman, upon whose well-stored 
and lofty head honors have fallen thick, but no faster than 
merited. 

Josiah Quincy the elder, the second on the roll of Boston’s 
distinguished Mayors, declared that the City might well adopt 
Winthrop as its patron saint. His was an ideal, saintly life, and 
his character, in a sense, supernatural. He bore success and 
defeat in a political election with like equanimity, a trait that, as 
it were, by a law of heredity marks with special honor his living 
representative. Whether in office or out, and possessing large 
estates or, one after another, deprived of them, he kept his mind 
active and his brain industriously working for the development of 
a higher social life under Christian culture in a virgin land, by his 
leadership, under the Providence he devoutly acknowledged, to be 
fitted and fashioned for a new and powerful country, of which 
Boston was to be a memorable city. 

Nor could he fail to remark upon the location of the statue set 
up in his honor in Scollay Square, rather than on Boston Com¬ 
mon, which he had laid out and secured to posterity. The City 









Governor Winthrop's Return . 


18 


Square in Charlestown, where he first unrolled the old charter 
of the Colony before the new government at its first meeting here, 
would have been a better site for it than the one selected. 

Difficult it is, indeed, to set down in worthy lines the remem¬ 
brance of the interview herein depicted. Of course, it has been 
faintly and inadequately done. Let us hope, however, that, 
should Winthrop’s spirit, two or three centuries hence, visit again 
the last and most eventful scenes of his earthly life, he will find 
Boston, though changed anew, yet vastly improved, keeping pace 
with all developments for the good of an ever advancing race, 
and second to none in the Commonwealth or Nation in true 
excellence and progress. 














AN INTERVIEW 

WITH 

A GREAT CHARACTER. 
^ yoem. 












POEM. 


HERE was a quiet hour in Scollay 
Square; 

The cars and teams were blocked from 
getting there ; 

No longer shone the famed electric light,— 

It flickered out and left the darkest night. 

I seemed to feel a shock upon my arm, 

And hear the statue speak: “ I ’ll do no harm, — 
An elder of First Church I think you are; 

I have a message for you; come, prepare.” 














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An Interview. 


21 


“ Winthrop !” cried I, “ my venerable sire! 

Do you reanimate your rich attire ? 

Most glad am I to have this interview; 

Pray, tell me all you wish, things old and new.” 

“ My friend,” said he, “ no ven’rable am I, 

For mortals grow no older when they die; 

E’er since my earthly race I long have run, 

My age has numbered only sixty-one. 

Years are not counted on the heavenly shore, 

For in eternal life time is no more. 

The children sweet, the lovely bride forsooth, 
Transferred, preserve the freshness of their youth. 
Those who departed later are not found 
Far to transcend them in their endless round. 
More of the spirits’ life I may not tell; 

Enough to say that with them all is well; 






















Portrait of Rev. John Wilson 



An Interview . 


22 


God’s universe has boundless worlds to show; 

His works will take eternity to know. 

“ But I would speak of your millennial time 
Whose fame has gone through yon celestial clime. 
Almost one seventh of the years our Lord 
Has named for Him, First Church has preached 
His word. 

Its simple cov’nant ever served its need; 

It learned to live without a cumbrous creed. 

Its ‘goodly church,’ fast built where flowed the tide, 
Fulfils the vision Wilson saw with pride. 

Its charming chapel opens wide the door 
To the bright children of the suffering poor. 

Ah! blest are they who use for them their might! 
Angels will bear them on their upward flight; 









































































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The Winthrop Cup. 






A 71 Inte'rview . 


2 3 


And, in return, the grateful youth will come, 
With prosperous hands, to deck their Christian 
home. 

The seed, wide-spread, will take its deepest root, 
And, watered oft, will yield its tenfold fruit. 
Erelong those hallowed walls will scarce contain 
Thos'e who shall flock to learn the precepts plain. 
More week-day services will be required, 

To hear the word by holy men inspired; 

And long shall those enduring arches ring 
With pulpit tones, and songs the choir will sing. 

“ The cup I gave, and which you pass around, 
The sole familiar thing about this ground, 

Will prove a token true from age to age, — 

May its partakers gild the sacred page! 













An Interview. 


24 


“ Oft as my after-knowledge takes wide range, 

I note how wonderful the constant change: 

No coin we used is current here to-day; 

The bills we passed you would not take for pay. 
Our money funds required no ‘ safety ’ locks, 

And differs much what we and you call ‘ stocks; ’ 
Men often find yours quite a dangerous game, 
And get their foot stuck in them just the same. 

“ The Thursday Lecture yields no more its grace; 
Your Thursday Evening Club now takes its place. 
The buildings strong we built have ceased to be. 
Lands now most valued then were in the sea. 
And so, few centuries hence, ’t will be again : 
What now is property will sink like rain ; 





































































































































































































































































































































An Interview. 


25 


Your mills, railroads, and bonds will be out-played; 
Then, too, your fruitful Calumet may fade. 

Amass as much as one can call his own, 

By right use only can its good be shown ; 

Pile worldly goods in a superfluous whole, 

They are not worth e’en one immortal soul. 

“ ’T was not my lot to have large sums in store, 
My wealth was gone ere mortal life was o’er; 

But Faith and Liberty I most did prize,— 

On those twin rocks I bade a nation rise. ' 
There was another John, you understand; 

He founded Learning’s halls in this new land ; 
Not Vanderbilt, nor any moneyed name 
Will e’er outshine John Harvard’s brilliant fame. 







An Interview. 


26 


Learn this: strive not for wealth that will not last, 
But let your treasures be in heaven cast; 

These are alone the real things to crave. 

While that will mould, like bodies in the grave, 
Material forms to meet decay are sure; 

The mind and spirit only will endure. 

Hope’s blissful visions, with its longings strong, 
The will’s high purpose, freed from thought of 
wrong, 

Fond memory of good deeds that here were done, 
Of sinners from their evil courses won, 

The love and knowledge of the God Supreme, 

Of Christ who came the fallen to redeem, — 
These are, indeed, the good, substantial things 
To which the soul for endless ages clings. 


































































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An Interview. 


27 


“ Could I have marked where should this statue 
stand, 

I would have placed it on that Common land, 

Of past and coming times the great delight, — 
With First Church spire and Capitol in sight; 

My figure there should front the setting sun; 
That, in review of any good I Ve done 
During the last score years I passed on earth, 
Posterity may better know my worth. 

“ I love the grand First Church, I love the State. 

I planted both. Their growth, through God, is 
great, 

And both will flourish ever, while the sun 
His circuit round this globe shall seem to run. 






















































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An Interview. 


28 


May every good Saint Botolph’s town betide, 
And Thursday Club, led by the wisest Guide.” 

Of what he said, this is, condensed, the sum. 
Then flashed the light; on came the busy hum; 
Then Winthrop’s spirit soared up to the stars ; 
Mute stood his statue ’mid the noisy cars. 











































































































































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